


Staff Recommendations

by Care



Category: New Girl
Genre: Bookstore!AU, F/F, genderswap!, girl!nick miller, ladiiiiesssssss!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-09
Updated: 2014-04-09
Packaged: 2018-01-18 17:27:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1436665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Care/pseuds/Care
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick plus Jess plus a bookstore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Staff Recommendations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blithers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blithers/gifts).



> Happy birthday, blithers! You're the best and also the worst for coming up with girl!Nick Miller.
> 
> The bookstore I used for this is [Stories](http://www.storiesla.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Picture-1.png), in Echo Park in Los Angeles. You can also find it in Celeste and Jesse Forever.
> 
> [The genderswapped cast of New Girl](http://maladyofthequotidian.tumblr.com/post/77839947276/blithers-new-girl-au-ladies-edition-jessica) is thanks to blithers. (Who doesn't love Anna Kendrick as Nick Miller?)

"I'm quitting," Selene announces to Nick in the middle of her shift on Wednesday.

It's a less dramatic gesture than she probably intends, but it still takes Nick by surprise. Five minutes ago the two of them had been putting up the new staff recommended books in the front and Selene was telling Nick about her boyfriend's newest tattoo. Nick's organizing the mints by the register -- Schmidt's very particular -- when Selene approaches her and tosses her nametag on the counter, saying loudly to the whole store that she's leaving. A few browsing customers raise their heads.

"Selene, what the fuck," Nick says, trying to keep her voice down. Schmidt's not even here. She's taking a few days off, for her "constitution", and Nick's been left in charge. "You're disturbing the customers."

"I quit!" Selene says, throwing up her hands dramatically. "Fuck the man!"

She walks out of the store, still yelling "fuck the man!". Nick blinks after her. They work in a struggling indie bookstore. She's not sure how much more "fuck the man" it can get.

 

*

 

"I trusted you, Nick," Schmidt says, her mouth pursed in an ultra-disappointed way. "I put you in charge."

Nick folds her arms across her chest, annoyed. "She _quit_. I didn't ask her to leave."

"What am I going to do about the signing this weekend?" Schmidt asks.

"Don't take it out on me," Nick snaps, and walks away.

 

*

 

Winnie makes Nick a latte at the cafe in the back of the store after they close for the day. She leans on her elbows as Nick sips the milky froth, slowly, taking her time. Schmidt's counting what they've made at the front of the store. Nick likes this time best -- just them, cleaning up, all the customers gone. Winnie wipes down the espresso machine with a grounds-stained towel, taking special care to scrub the espresso marks from the steel. Nick drains her cup and pushes it across the counter.

"Thanks," she says.

Winnie puts the cup and saucer in a tub of dirty dishes already soaking in soapy water. "You're welcome." Then: "Did Schmidt tell you? She's already got someone coming in for an interview."

"No… Schmidt?" Nick calls towards the front of the store.

Schmidt holds a hand up, indicating that she should wait. She finishes counting what's in her hand, and looks up. "Yeah, I've got someone coming in tomorrow. I need you both to come fifteen minutes early."

Nick and Winnie groan.

"It's either that or we hire some slovenly, lazy felon!" Schmidt snaps. "God, show some respect for our work!"

"I've got barista duty tomorrow, Schmidt," Nick whines, pillowing her head on her arms. "It's already gonna be a bitch."

"No arguments," Schmidt says.

 

*

 

Nick sleeps through her alarm and shows up to her shift ten minutes late. Schmidt shakes her head at Nick, and slaps the barista apron against her chest.

"Her name's Jess and she's starting tomorrow," Schmidt says, looking disgusted with Nick and all that Nick represents.

Nick ties on the apron, her half-asleep fingers fumbling with the strings. She yawns, hides her mouth in the crook of her elbow. She ties her dark, tangled hair back in a ponytail and starts a fresh pot of coffee.

 

*

 

"You're Nick, right?" Jess says the next morning. Her smile's just on the soft side of awkward, but it's her bright blue eyes that Nick notices first.

Nick swallows, nearly dropping the book she's holding. "Y-yeah. Hi."

"I'm Jess."

"Yeah. I know."

She shows Jess how to ring books up, and how to work the ancient search function on the computer to check their stock. Jess catches on pretty quickly, but honestly it's not rocket science. Nick has her do a staff recommendation at the end of the day and Jess picks out a young adult novel that Nick hasn't read yet. She writes out her card in neat, rounded cursive.

Nick stares at Jess's handwriting after her shift's ended.

"No questions, but," she says, showing the card to Winnie, "this is straight girl writing. Right?"

Winnie glances at it, and takes a step down from the ladder that she's on. "Big time." She stares at Nick. "Hey, you know Schmit still has that ban on storewide dating…"

"Yeah, I know," Nick says, putting the card back in the book and setting it on the shelf.

It's not like she was holding out hope anyway.

 

*

 

"You have to stop singing to customers about the books they're buying," Schmidt says to Jess before they open one morning. "It's freaking them out, and they're writing about it on Yelp."

"But it personalizes the experience," Jess protests.

Nick laughs into her flannel shirt sleeve because, well, it's funny. And annoying, obviously, but mostly funny. Schmidt fixes her with a glare. "They're buying books. It's already kind of personal."

"I think people like them," Jess says. "What do you think, Nick?"

Nick pauses in the midst of stacking new hardcovers at the front table. She wipes a fingerprint off a cover carefully. She hates the latest trend in shiny book jackets. When the light hits them at a certain angle, all you can see are smudges. Nick isn't anal like Schmidt, but it still bothers her.

"Some people like them," Nick concedes. "But probably not that guy yesterday who bought _Great Sex Made Simple_."

"Please stop," Schmidt says.

Jess sighs, looking glum. "Fine."

"That one you sang me," Nick says after Schmidt's disappeared into the back. "When I was buying that old copy of Gatsby. I liked it."

"Yeah?" Jess says, cheering up. "Fitzgerald brings out the best in me."

 

*

 

It turns out that she and Jess argue so much that Schmidt almost considers putting them on different shifts. Nick can't explain it -- Jess drives her fucking _nuts_. She's so insufferably happy all the time, and she tries to spring it on Nick. Nick doesn't really get it. People are used to her as the grumpy one that wears a lot of flannel and doesn't like questions. When Jess is working with Nick, all she wants to do is talk. But when they talk, they usually end up fighting.

The fighting also has the weird effect of turning Nick on, but that's besides the point. She should probably get that looked into by a professional.

"You don't have a _wallet_?" Jess hisses at her while they're putting out the sales books. "Nick, what the hell -- you're over thirty-years-old. You're a fucking adult. You've been alive for more than _three decades_ and you use a plastic bag to hold your money."

"I'm doing just fine," Nick snaps back. She knows the back of her neck is heating up, like it does when she's angry. "What are you, my mom?"

"Clearly not, because your mom would make you get a wallet!"

"Guys, you're scaring people," Schmidt says through gritted teeth, her eyes flashing.

Later Jess buys Nick an apology beer at the bar next door. Nick accepts it without saying anything, but all the fight's gone out of her. Schmidt's trying to hit on Jess's friend Cece by the pool table, and Winnie's chatting up some girl in the corner, and it just leaves Nick and Jess.

"You don't even need a fancy wallet," Jess says eventually, and Nick is surprised into laughing.

They drink beers until it's too late, and Nick wakes up the next morning with a dry mouth and a hangover. When she gets to work Nick can see Jess making espresso with a pair of huge sunglasses on her face. She gives Jess a thumbs-up, and Jess returns it with a wan smile.

 

*

 

Nick reads a lot of the old pulp mysteries they keep on a rotating shelf next to the register. At first she does it because it annoys Schmidt. Those things are delicate, and they could fall apart at any time. Or at least according to Schmidt. But Nick grows to like the faded yellow pages and the musty smell, the blocky inky text and the ridiculous covers. Jess finds her reading one behind the counter, the book in her lap, her back to the door.

"What're you reading?" Jess asks, craning her head to see.

Nick's almost embarrassed at first, her cheeks all warm, but she tilts the cover for Jess. There's a busty blonde in a red one-piece beneath some palm trees, and a man's disembodied head in the corner. " _Danger Destination,_ " she says. "It's pretty weird." She's feeling almost defensive about it, like Jess is going to make fun of her. Which would be ridiculous, since Jess does the weirdest shit out of all of them. Almost.

"Ohhh," Jess says, grinning. "I see." She puts on a hardboiled detective's accent, like in old-timey noir films. "It was like this, see. This little number walked right into my office."

"Please stop using that voice," Nick says, but she's smiling.

 

*

 

For Jess's birthday they get her cupcakes and sing to her during lunch, when there are still customers in the store. A couple look annoyed -- no doubt they're working on their Very Important screenplays or whatever in the cafe -- but the rest all join in.

They're all invited to Jess's place for a birthday party that weekend. Not a big deal, Jess says, just a few friends. They arrive to find a potluck going on, and a million people Nick doesn't know. Cece's hosting the thing -- and apparently she's invited everyone on the eastside. Winnie ducks below a string of colored lanterns as they make their way into the yard. It's almost too small to contain everyone, and people have spilled out onto the front porch and the kitchen.

Jess is talking animatedly to some hipster dude when they find her by the picnic table. She's got a construction paper crown on her head that loudly proclaims her to be the birthday girl. She brightens when she sees them, throwing her arms around them in a collective hug. Nick's got her present in a little gift bag that's dangling from her fingers, but it doesn't feel like the right moment to give it to her -- not when Jess is so distracted by so many people.

Schmidt disappears, looking for Cece, because she's got some unhealthy obsession thing going on that both Nick and Winnie have tried to curb. Nick's not sure if she's up to it tonight though, and she grabs a can of warm beer and drinks it, still holding the gift bag, just watching Jess and the guy chat. After ten minutes she decides to go find the bathroom. She hands off the bag to Winnie, and disappears into the house. It's a harder task than originally envisioned -- she has to push through crowds of people in the little cramped halls -- but eventually she finds it.

When she comes out, Jess is waiting. The crown's slipped a little on her head.

"Sorry," Nick says. "Go ahead." She tries to scoot out of the way.

Jess holds up the gift bag. "Winnie gave me your present."

"If you don't like it -- " Nick starts.

"Nick, are you kidding, I _love_ it," Jess says. She takes out the stack of pulp mystery novels that Nick had carefully selected. "These are awesome."

"Good," Nick says, feeling strangely and suddenly claustrophobic. "Cool."

Jess rolls her eyes before hugging Nick, her arms tight and warm, her breath hot against Nick's ear. "Thank you so much, Nick. It's amazing."

"I didn't know what you'd like," Nick says, her mouth practically buried in Jess's cloud of hair.

"I like this," Jess says. "This is perfect."

 

*

 

Once upon a time Nick dated straight girls, and it never ended well.

That's what she tells herself on the walk home anyway.

 

*

 

The worst thing about Jess being straight is not that she would never even think about going out with Nick, but it's the fact that Nick has to hear about all the guys that Jess dates. There's Spencer first, her ex, and then Paul -- some guy she saw for a while when she first started working with them -- and then Russell, who's some older divorced dude she met when she went out with Cece. Now it's Zack, the hipster guy Nick saw her talking to at her birthday party.

Nick's been thinking about how she'd like to murder Zack, purely on the basis of how long Jess has been talking about him -- the pros and cons of dating Zack. (Pros: Zack writes short stories and pickles his own vegetables. Cons: Zack writes short stories and pickles his own vegetables.) Nick feels like _she's_ dating Zack at this point.

But when Jess confides in Nick tearily that she and Zack broke up, Nick still feels bad. Because it's Jess, and she's sad, and she's always so stupidly happy that it feels incongruous to Nick. And because she's Nick's friend, and that's important. That's the big thing. She hugs Jess and tells her Zack's a tool.

"I don't know what I'd do without you guys," Jess says, tearing up all over again, when Winnie makes her a cup of tea.

Schmidt pats her on the back awkwardly and makes her drink the whole cup of tea before she lets Jess go back to work.

 

*

 

"No inter-office dating," Schmidt says to Nick. "It's in the rules, remember?"

"Shut up," Nick says back. "We don't work in an office."

 

*

 

The next year passes in a pleasant sort of haze for Nick. She works at the bookstore, hangs out with her friends, lets Jess drag her to a couple weirdo art shows and trivia nights. It doesn't feel like it can last though. Maybe because Nick's a cynic, but nothing this nice lasts.

She dates a few girls -- Jess never likes them much. She gets back together with her ex-girlfriend Caroline for like a hot second and it's the worst idea she's ever had. 

"I'm really glad you're not with Caroline," Jess says to Nick drunkenly one night.

Nick leans her weight on one elbow and nods, slow, her head feeling strangely heavy. She closes her eyes to better focus on the sound of Jess's voice. "Me too, Jessica. Me too."

"Nick," Jess says, leaning in close.

Nick opens her eyes. Jess is right in front of her, mouth slightly parted, her eyes huge. She draws back automatically, her palms starting to sweat. "We're gonna be hungover tomorrow," she says. "We should go."

It must be her imagination or just a trick of the light, but Nick swears Jess looks almost disappointed. "Okay. You're right."

 

*

 

It's also a Wednesday when Jess tells Nick she's quitting. She's chewing on her bottom lip and looking nervous, her eyes downcast. Nick loses her place on the inventory list -- somewhere around Gaiman -- and fumbles the pen she's holding. It drops to the floor with a clatter. Jess leans down to grab it, and she holds it out to Nick, like a peace offering. Nick takes it from Jess's outstretched fingers, trying hard not to touch Jess's hand.

"When?" she finally manages to muster up.

Jess still doesn't glance her way. "Week and a half. I already told Schmidt. I got this teaching job, Nick. It's regular hours, you know, and salaried, and -- "

"No, I get it," Nick says, her voice scratchy. "That's way better. Congrats, Jess."

"I knew you'd react this way," Jess says.

Nick ignores the jab, tries to go back to the inventory list. Jess grabs her arm and forces Nick to stop. She's tearing up -- Nick can see it gathering at the corners of her eyes, and by the way Jess's blinking really fast.

"Don't act this way," Jess says.

"I'm not acting any way," Nick says, jerking her arm away. She starts heading for the stairs.

"Nick," Jess says, "Nick. Stop. Nick -- shit -- will you stop walking? I'm trying to talk to you!" She runs to catch up with Nick. "Hey!" she yells. "What's your goddamn problem, Nick?! I thought we were friends!"

"We are," Nick says, short.

"Oh, screw you!" Jess snaps. "You know what -- I was going to tell you, now that I'm leaving, that I _like_ you! I just -- you're incredible, you know that? You're an incredible _ass_ and I'm not -- "

"Wait, what?" Nick spins around, wide-eyed.

Jess still looks pissed. She's glaring daggers. "I _like_ you and I thought that you liked me back, but clearly that was dumb, and what was I even thinking, god. I just wanted to tell you because, I mean, there's Schmidt's stupid rule and -- "

Nick takes hold of the sleeve of Jess's cardigan and tugs, just a little. Jess falters, unsure. Nick takes a step into Jess's space, a small one, and leans in. Her heart's thumping rapidly in her chest, and in her ears. Jess blinks once. Nick tilts her head to the side and kisses Jess almost cautiously. It takes Jess a second, everything still between them, and then she drags Nick in, kissing her deeply. Nick makes a sound in the back of her throat.

"I thought -- you're straight, " she says, grinning, warm.

Jess shrugs, smiling. "I'm whatever. I'm -- I don't know. I like you, Nick."

"Yeah," Nick says, brushing Jess's hair out of her face, tracing the edge of Jess's ear with her thumb. "I know the feeling."

Jess laughs, and kisses her again.

 

*

 

"Technically she's quitting so…" Nick says later, her hand clasped around Jess's.

Schmidt scowls darkly at them. "Technically."


End file.
